All 'hogs go to heaven

Dear World,

Little Miss Kiwi-Keys Chaos has gone to hedgehog heaven. She lived a very happy three years, seven months and seven days... and despite constantly thinking that I would one day squish her to death from cuteness overload, she passed away due to jaw cancer :(

Kiwi passed away Tuesday October 13th... and it has taken me a while to gather my thoughts and pictures of Kiwi I wanted to share.

A little bit lot about Kiwi:

Kiwi was born on a winter-almost-spring day: March 6, 2012. Time of birth is not documented - I came home one day and found that mama Chaos had not eaten a bite of food all day. I tried to get Chaos' attention to get her to eat food but she just kept hissing at me! So I said "Fine Chaos, go ahead and starve, see if I care!!" even though I cared very much... then I heard the CUUUUUUTEST little suckling noises ever. I then realized that Chaos had given birth!! I covered her cage with a towel to give her privacy and called Bobby to tell him the good news! Bobby came home and we went out for dinner to celebrate :)

We didn't disturb Chaos for 9 days - I was so terrified she would feel threatened and eat a baby! We only had Chaos for less than a month, I didn't know if she 'trusted' us... so we left her alone. It was sooo adorable hearing the babies squeak for their mama... and Chaos was the best hedgehog mama ever!

On the 9th day of Kiwi's existence, I came home and found Chaos sleeping BEHIND their little hut. I panicked because no one was keeping the babies warm! Hedgehogs are born furless and blind - they get their warmth from their mama (okay so is this first and only strike against otherwise perfect Chaos!)... so I picked Chaos up to force her back home... and boy did Chaos panic!!! Luckily, she calmed down and continued to be the world's greatest hedgehog mama :) And this was the day we realized that Chaos had given birth to three little hoglets :)

First pic of the babies at 9 days old

We started handling the babies at 14 days old... and we discovered that Chaos had birthed three perfect baby girls :) I initially named the babies Kiwi, Mango and Papaya.. Bobby ended up renaming a baby Bowser, and our friend Aleks named her adopted hoglet Purdy. I know you are never supposed to pick a favourite, but Kiwi has ALWAYS been my favourite :) She had such a crazy personality - ever since she was a month old, she was a dare devil: you put her on any surface and she would JUMP. Seriously! When hedgehog babies are young (a month old or less), their spikes are constantly spiked out... so baby Kiwi would jump off the coffee table... and I would go to catch her... and OUCH. The craziness never stopped. You had to watch this one like a hawk ;)

Babies at 14 days old! It was adorable how they always slept next to each other!

Babies learning to use mama's wheel

Weighing the baby fatties: Bowser was always the largest, Kiwi was the middle sized babe, and Purdy was the smallest

Baby Kiwi!! Taken on April 6, 2012... so she was exactly one month old

Eventually, after re-homing the other two babies, we were down to Chaos and Kiwi. Chaos was such a sweet mother... and Kiwi was such a brat for a daughter :) But she was adorable so how could you not love her!?

Kiwi and Chaos (in background)

Kiwi's first summer (as a 4 month old hedgie)

Hiding behind gigantic sunglasses like a bunch of cool kids!

"Keep back!" says mama Kay

Kiwi's favorite treats were cat treats, graham crackers.. and anything crunchy like cereal. When she got older, she started getting into fruits (mangoes were her latest obsession).

Cereal :)

mmmmango!

She was very spoiled (not once did Bobby go to the pet store without at least looking for a new toy for Kiwi). Ultimately, her favorite toys were fake grass pieces (Bobby bought Chaos and Kiwi fake grass one day... and that night, Kiwi brought all of the little pieces in her hut and she slept beside them pretty much most nights of her life) and nerf gun ammo (she found a piece in the apartment one day and brought it home to live with her collection of fake grass pieces!). Otherwise, she didn't care for other toys :)

Kiwi protecting her nerf gun ammo and grass piece

Sleeping with her prized possessions

Fake grass all the time!

Most of her toys: Fake Bowser the dryer ball (named after Baby Bowser), rocks from Bobby's hikes, pinecones... and of course the fake grass and nerf ammo

Kiwi was very feisty - she would bite if you pissed her off. But she also had a tender side.. and it was soooo sweet seeing her cuddling with her mama.

Uh... sure, you can sleep in my bag

Spooning! Mama Kay is big spoon

Snuggle time

Always snuggling! Even when mama Kay looked uncomfortable...

...or Kiwi looked uncomfortable!

Just airing out!

Kiwi-isms
Kiwi was a terrible hider.... she was a firm believer that if she could not see you, that clearly meant that you could not see her. Please see exhibits A-C below:

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Kiwi and me
To say I had a major obsession with Kiwi is the biggest understatement ever. Admittedly, she was my favourite hedgehog! And to be honest... I would play with Kiwi a minimum of five times a day. My day would start with checking in on Kiwi before I went to work... and when I got home, the first thing I would do is get Kiwi and together we would sit on the couch and wait for Bobby to get home :)

Me and baby Kiwi

Just a couple of weirdos

Kiwi and I even did PiYo together ;)

Even when Bobby and I had movie nights in, Kiwi would chill on the couch with us. Bobby had one corner of the couch, I sat in the middle, and Kiwi had the other corner. She would happily nap under a couch pillow... and when she would wake up from her slumber and poke around, I would let her run home so she could eat and run on her wheel.

Kiwi's corner of our comfy couch

Bobby thought Kiwi was pretty awesome too:

Hello Kiwi, do you like our new house?

Kiwi (and Chaos) had a hoggy door on their cage and I would often let Kiwi run home to escape my craziness. She knew how to get home from the living room/dining room area. As she got older (and Marco moved out), we moved her to the third bedroom of the apartment so we could better control the temperature (hedgehog's are very temperature sensitive). After we moved Kiwi, it took her a while to re-learn how to get home (you can't teach old 'hogs new tricks ;))

I had to teach Chaos how to use her hoggy door, but the babies learned  how to use the door really quickly and they liked to make their great escape :)

Running home... check out my Christmas wreath by the way ;)

Kiwi's claim to fame
I started an official instagram account for Kiwi earlier this year... after heavily spamming my Facebook friends with nothing but hedgehog pics... and let's face it, 50% of this blog is hedgehog entries.... And one morning, I woke up and found that a picture Dora took of Kiwi ended up on @AnimalsOverPeople! Her picture got over 3000 likes! And she made so many new hedgehog friends!

Also, Kiwi had her own personal photo shoot, thanks to Dora of 21 Mpix Photography. Here are a couple of shots:

I'm cute... this is the same pic that got featured on @animalsoverpeople

Hello world!

And now, some of my fave pics of Kiwi:

In my pink towel

Kiwi and kiwi!

Kiwi, Old Chaos and Chaos

Watching men's hockey during the 2014 winter olympics

Hello, can I help you with something?

Kiwi's love notes to Bobby

Kiwi's third birthday... the last birthday we got to celebrate together

Kiwi's last half birthday... we missed it by a couple of weeks because we were away... Kiwi was already diagnosed with cancer at this point and we wanted to make her half birthday extra special!

Our sincerest thank yous
In no particular order:
- To Aleks and Brad-Ja-Luca for watching our babies whenever we went away.

- To Dora/21 MPix Photography for Kiwi's private photoshoot... I am so grateful for all of the beautiful pictures from this day that I will get to reflect on

- To Pawsh Pet/Melissa for taking care of Kiwi when she was sick and we were away. Melissa did such a great job and I am so grateful we found her. I was so stressed out having to go away when Kiwi was sick but unfortunately, our trip was pre-planned. Melissa was able to take my stress level down a couple of levels.
- To Eagle Ridge Animal and Bird Hospital... words cannot express how kind their staff are. When we first brought in Kiwi with her swollen cheek, I was devastated to learn that she had cancer. We decided to bring her home until it was her time to go.... Today, I received a sympathy card signed by the staff at this hospital. It was extremely unexpected and it caught me off guard and I immediately burst into tears. No one ever understands the bond you have with an animal but I was so touched by their kindness

And finally, to my sweet Kiwi:
Thank you for 3 and a half years of love, happiness and silliness! You brought so much joy and laughter to us and to our family and friends. I miss you so much but I am so happy you are pain free. Run free my Kiwi-Keys. I love you

The forgotten wallet

So I forgot my wallet today. Last night, Bobby and I had Polly Pokinos for dinner... and because I was too lazy to bring my entire bag to pick up the food, I just brought my wallet in my jacket pocket. 

This morning, I noticed my jacket still on the dining chair.. and I even mentally commented that there was "something heavy in the pocket" but I was too tired to care since it was 630am and I was on my way to work.... and since it was supposed to be 27 degrees today, I left my jacket (and wallet!!!!) at home. 

I didn't even notice until I got to Caffe Citadella. I ran out of yogurt and starwberries so I couldn't make myself a parfait for breakfast... so I was going to pick up a pastry... that was when I realized that my wallet was at home!!!! Despite all of this, I am thankful for two things:

1. The staff at Caffe Citadella are so kind. They let me have my pastry and told me to just "pay them next time". This day would've been shitty without breakfast (I easily get hangry) so I am so touched by their kind gesture... and let it be known, I will be there first thing tomorrow to pay my dues ;)

2. I have a great memory for remembering credit card numbers (online shopping really helps out!) so I memorized my credit card number... so I was able to load my starbucks gift card online which I could then access through the phone app.... and so I had a sandwich at Starbucks for lunch.

Work was so busy today, and for whatever reason, I woke up with a headache - not a full on migraine - one of those annoyingly mild headaches that lasts a long time. For whatever reason, I had no tylenol on me (this is so unlike me) and of course, I couldn't buy any and no one at work had any. #ugh

Oh and traffic was a nightmare on my way home... and I was paranoid about driving sans license.

But I made it home in one piece... and found that bank couriered a new PIN number for me for my new bank card... even though I received my bank card a week ago and my new PIN had already been sorted out #firstworldproblems

Okay... so we had left over Polly Pokinos for dinner... and are going out for ice cream. 

At least the day ended of nicely :)

Eating ice cream, for the kids

Okay, so yesterday was Miracle Treat Day - the day Dairy Queen donates a portion of blizzard sales to charity! Naturally, I had to get a blizzard. Side note: Not because I am an ice cream monster, but to help out kids in need ;)

mmmmmmm

At least this year's blizzard was not as soupy as last year's ;)

The Ginger Ale Drama

So today I learned that if you leave work early one day for a doctor's appointment... and then you drink a ginger ale in front of your coworkers the next day... they automatically think you are PREGNANT.

I mean seriously, I love ginger ale! And it was soooo hot and humid today and I really just wanted a cold, sugary beverage :(

The Bathroom Update

Ever since we moved into our apartment over a year ago, I've been fighting tooth and nail to win over some "Jenn only" space. Bobby has his own "man cave" (aka, the third bedroom), and even Marco has his own bedroom. The original plan was to have a kick ass walk in closet to myself... However, with the purchase of this apartment (and some furniture we never had living in tiny downtown Vancouver apartments), and with the wedding (and upcoming honeymoon), spending $1000+ on a custom closet isn't high on the priority list of things to buy.

So... I've decided to re-vamp my bathroom! Not a complete overall (eg: painting, etc), but more of an 'surface' touch up.

I wanted to achieve two things in this bathroom re-do:
1. I wanted my bathroom to be more "girly"
2. I wanted my bathroom to be more organized (see below)

Before: Ahhh clutter everywhere!

Before: We got this shower curtain as a Christmas present a few years back... its nice... but I am over it!

Before: Poor use of large space

We got a Winners/Homesense giftcard from my coworkers as a wedding present and I decided to use that towards this project.

The first thing I purchased was a smaller toilet paper storage (from Winners - its a 'stackable basket').

After: Better use of space... but I am still brainstorming ways to better utilize this space.

The biggest purchase I was going to make was a new shower curtain. I have been wanting a "ruffled" shower curtain ever since seeing one at Anthropologie, but their version was too expensive (over 100$) which to me is insane!! So I've been looking and looking and I found out that Bed Bath and Beyond sells one!! And it's all white, the way I want it!! :D I have a 20% off coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond too so this shower curtain would've cost just over 60$, which is still a bit expensive, but good enough. I was previously going to buy a similar shower curtain on Amazon.ca but I was hesitant because I was worried the quality would be terrible and I wouldn't be able to return it... So I went ahead and reserved the shower curtain at the North Van Bed Bath and Beyond location.

This morning, before heading to North Van, I hit up the bank to pay off my Visa, and then Winners to return something. I decided to have a look around to see if I could find other things for the house... and I stumbled upon this gem:

After: New shower curtain!!

This shower curtain is by Cynthia Rowley and it only cost 25$ ("free" since I have a gift card)!!!! So crazy!!! And its such great quality!! I am obsessed ;)

Side note: Needless to say, I canceled the Bed Bath and Beyond Order!

After: Counter all clean - also still a work in process. Still brainstorming how to store my hair dryer and flat iron.

After: white tray to hold all the potions I use to keep my skin young/acne free ;)

So all in all, I've spent just over 60$ (the toilet paper basket was 16.99$, the shower curtain was 24.99$ and the white tray was 12.99$) - which is what I would've spent just on the shower curtain at Bed Bath and Beyond. And since I used my giftcard, all of this was free :D

I still have some money on the giftcard to help with storage issues... and maybe splurge on a super awesome bath mat!

So happy with how this project turned out! Can't wait to shower tomorrow ;)